CAT/C/66/D/829/2017 4.11 Consequently, the State party considers that the complainant has not established a credible claim that he faces a real and serious risk of being subjected to treatment that is contrary to the Convention in his country of origin. 4.12 On 19 April 2018, the State party submitted further observations with regard to the additional medical documents presented by the complainant (medical certificates dated 19 July 2017 and 22 August 2017, a faxed notification of discharge dated 13 July 2017 and a medical report dated 21 July 2017). These documents describe changes in the complainant’s state of health, but they do not contain any new information on the possibility of his obtaining medical care in Benin. Complainant’s comments on the State party’s submission 5.1 The complainant submitted his comments on the State party’s observations on 30 May 2018. 5.2 The State party’s main arguments against the complainant concern the implausibility and inconsistency of his testimony, the lack of evidence of torture and of the risks that he would face if he returned to Benin, and his claim that it would be impossible to obtain medical care in Benin. 5.3 The complainant claims that he fled Benin after having been repeatedly raped, tortured and threatened with death. He was interrogated by two women while he was in a serious psychological state, paralysed by fear and trauma. The complainant notes that, given the sexual nature of the violence suffered, it is possible that an interrogation conducted by a person of the opposite sex might have led to inaccuracies and inconsistencies in his testimony. 5.4 The request for reconsideration of 19 October 2015 responds to the grounds given for the refusal of asylum by the State Secretariat for Migration. In it, the Service d’Aide Juridique aux Exilé-e-s (Legal Aid Service for Exiles) describes in detail the events, accusations and threats that prompted the complainant to flee Benin for Togo, and then for Switzerland, when his wife was pregnant and he was already the father of a little boy. 5.5 It was only after one and a half years in Switzerland that the complainant was finally able to admit to his psychiatrist, whom he saw once a week, that he had been raped and that he had suffered injuries to his penis caused by pliers, as well as other forms of torture. The State Secretariat for Migration did not take sufficient account of the evidence submitted, especially the Nant Foundation’s medical report, which concedes that victims of sexual abuse may need time before they are able to talk about the abuse and that they may suffer from memory problems and give an inconsistent account of the events. 5 5.6 The complainant claims that all the medical certificates he submitted concerning his physical and psychological condition (from the Nant Foundation, the University Medical Polyclinic in Lausanne, the Appartenances association and the Medical Treatment of Violence Unit at Lausanne University Hospital), accompanied by photos of the scars on his body, including his private parts, are indicative of injuries and traumas that persist to this day. These sequelae are consistent with the complainant’s account of torture and illtreatment. Although it is impossible to prove that they were caused by acts of that kind, it seems fair to give due weight to the congruence of the facts presented, and inconceivable that the complainant could have mutilated himself in this way. 5.7 The complainant was raped and then threatened with death if he revealed what had happened, by masked soldiers, which explains his fear of returning to Benin. In addition, the complainant claims that, after his departure, his wife received telephone threats and a police summons. It is therefore highly likely that he will be arrested if he returns to Benin, especially since the individuals who raped and tortured him are still in active service and know that the complainant revealed the facts after he fled. 5 GE.19-12653 See Swiss Refugee Council (OSAR), Manuel de la procédure d’asile et de renvoi (Manual on asylum and removal procedures), 2nd ed. (Bern, Haupt Verlag, 2009), chap. XII, point 5.3: “Difficultés spécifiques en matière de vraisemblance” (Particular problems with regard to plausibility). 5